Will you explain the issue of tashabbuh, that is, women resembling men and men resembling women?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Islam orders both men and women to maintain the properties peculiar to their gender and to keep away from appearances and attitudes that will cause gender ambiguity.

Each gender needs to maintain their own characteristics regarding clothing, hair style and similar issues; they must not desire to resemble the other gender, which can cause emotional deviations.

Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) uttered words that meant ‘a woman needs to dress and act like a woman and a man needs to dress and act like a man’ and uttered warnings.

The Prophet (pbuh) damned women who tried to resemble men and men who tried to resemble women. (1) The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) also damned men who wore women's dresses and women who wore men's clothes. (2)

Imam Rabbani Ahmad al Faruq Sarhandi writes the following in his book Maktubat:

"Since men are prohibited from resembling women, the decree makes it necessary for men to know the customs of women. If the women in a town wear shirts with buttons at the front, the men living there should abandon wearing them so as not to resemble the women and should wear shirts or clothes with buttons at the sides. If the women in another town wear clothes with buttons at the sides, it is necessary for the men living there to prefer clothes with buttons at the front."(3)

It is stated in the book "Mughnil-Muhtaj" that if a fiqh scholar in a country wears a gown and cap that is not customary there, it will harm his personality and cause his witnessing to be rejected. (4)

Footnotes:

l. Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud.
2. At-Targhib wat-Tarhib, II/104.
3. Mektubat, II/382.
4. Mughnil-Muhtaj, IV/432.

(Halil GÜNENÇ, Günümüz Meselelerine Fetvalar, II/173)

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